This is part two of a message from Francis Frangipane. Last week we looked at how true Seeking of Jesus is born out of love. This week we will look at how if we don’t give up, we will find Jesus.

Genuine Love For God Is An Unrelenting Hunger

Note also, there is an unfolding dimension to seeking the Lord which we must embrace. Genuine love for God is an unrelenting hunger. As you would die without food, so you feel you will die without Him. She says, “night after night” I sought him. The knowledge of what her beloved has done in the past, a “religion” about Him, will provide little solace for the bride. She wants Him!

Genuine love for God is an unrelenting hunger.

There are many obstacles which hinder us from truly finding the Lord. The bride mourns, “I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him.” Her first attempts at seeking the Lord proved fruitless yet, unlike most of us, she has not terminated her quest. Augustine said it well, “God is not on the surface.” There is, indeed, a “secret place of the Most High.” Although hidden, it is accessible.

Persistent To The Main Objective

Another deterrent is the “effects” of drawing near to the Lord: the blessings of encouragement or a new understanding of scripture. We must guard against these sign posts becoming our final destination. We must not be deterred by goose bumps and tears, edification or comfort. We are searching for Jesus Himself.

We must guard against these sign posts becoming our final destination… We are searching for Jesus Himself.

Let us also understand that our pursuit of God is not an act but an attitude. We will not find His fullness by seeking Him merely in convenient times and comfortable places. Rather, our quest is a restless, continual pilgrimage which will not end until He is disclosed to us (Philippians 3:12). Our confidence is in His promise: the day we seek Him with our whole hearts, we shall find Him (Jeremiah 29:13).

Christ Our Life

For many, Christianity is simply the religion into which they were born. For others, although Jesus is truly their Savior, their relationship with Him is hardly more that a history lesson, a study of what He did in the past. For those who attain His Presence, however, Christ is Savior and more: He is their very life (Colossians 3:4). When Jesus is your life you cannot go on without Him.

There is a story of a man who, in search of God, came to study at the feet of an old teacher. The sage brought this young man to a lake and led him out into the shoulder-deep water. Putting his hands upon his pupil’s head, he promptly pushed him under the water and continued to hold him there until the disciple, feeling he would surely drown, frantically repelled the old man’s resistance. In shock and confusion, the young man resurfaced. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. His teacher looked him in the eyes and said, “When you desire God as you desired air, you shall find Him.”

When you desire God as you desired air, you shall find Him.

Was this not the attitude of the Psalmist when he wrote, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1)? The question here is not only of desire but of survival. I need Him as a drowning man needs air and as a parched deer needs water. How can I exist without abiding in the Living Christ?

Have You Seen Jesus?

The bride continues, “I must arise now and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I must seek him whom my soul loves.” This inexorable woman has risen from the security of her own bed. She has left the comfort of her warm house and now is seeking her beloved in the streets and in the squares. Pastors, be aware: not all who wander from church to church are uncommitted or superficial Christians; a significant number are honestly searching for Christ. They are asking, “Have you seen Him?”

Pastors, be aware: not all who wander from church to church are uncommitted or superficial Christians; a significant number are honestly searching for Christ.

Yet, not only is the bride in the streets and squares of Christianity, she is facing the force and the power of darkness as well. Yet, nothing stops her; not her own need of sleep or her own fear of the night. Her love exceeds her fear.

Don’t Give Up Searching

However, again she is refused. “I sought him but did not find him.” We might think that after so great an expense of her energies and, even the seeming reluctance of heaven to answer her cry, she would feel justified to return home. But she does not. We too must guard against becoming satisfied with our opinion of ourselves: “We prayed, we waited, we searched for God. We did more than other men.” This false reward fills the soul with self-exaltation. If we would truly find Him, we must stay empty and hungry for God alone.

“The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me, and I said, Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” From her bed to the streets and now to the watchmen, the bride is seeking her lover. Notice that the watchmen found her. The watchmen are the modern day prophetic ministries. Their highest calling is to find the searching bride and direct her to Jesus. While many may come to the seers for a word of encouragement or revelation, the bride is looking for Jesus. Her singleness of purpose is undistracted; she asks the watchmen, “Have you seen Him?”

The highest calling [of prophetic people] is to find the searching bride and direct her to Jesus.